Brief History of AAEI 2007-2008

Despite spending millions of dollars, Americans Against Escalation In Iraq failed in its objective when, in May 2007, the Democratic-controlled Congress gave President Bush the full funding he requested for the US war in Iraq.

In Summer 2007, AAEI hired over 100 organizers to work within the districts of targetted Republicans who supported the war.[3]

On January 17, 2008, Ryan Grim reported on Politico.com that the Americans Against Escalation in Iraq coalition was no longer advocating that Congress end the war. In 2008 "the groups instead will lower their sights and push for legislation to prevent President Bush from entering into a long-term agreement with the Iraqi government that could keep significant numbers of troops in Iraq for years to come. ... The groups believe this switch in strategy can draw contrasts with Republicans that will help Democrats gain ground in November..." [3]

In a February 9, 2008, blog posting on The Nation's website, professor and activist Tom Hayden wrote: "Tom Matzzie,leader of America's most well-financed anti-Iraq [war] organization, has resigned his position and dissolved the organization, Americans Against Escalation in Iraq." However,after posting this blog Hayden the wrote: "Minutes after this story was posted, Matzzie sent an e-mail to me claiming 'the story is wrong.' He said, 'We haven't quit,' but are in transition. But the story is based on Mattzie's own February 7 e-mail response to a question from me: 'I've essentially quit anti-war organizing and gone into politics.' " [4] In fact, Matzzie now runs the AAEI spin-off Campaign to Defend America which is using the issue of the war to help Democrats win elections in 2008 and is run, funded and supported by the same organizations and money behind AAEI.

In February, 2008 journalist Matt Taibbi analyzed how the MoveOn-led AAEI has become "a political tool for the Democrats — one operated from inside the Beltway and devoted primarily to targeting Republicans. ... At the forefront of the groups are [former MoveOn lobbyist] Tom Matzzie and Brad Woodhouse... [M]uch of the anti-war group's leadership hails from a consulting firm called Hildebrand Tewes Consulting — whose partners Steve Hildebrand and Paul Tewes served as staffers for the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee. ... This is the kind of conflict of interest that would normally be an embarrassment in the activist community. ... The really tragic thing about the Democratic surrender on Iraq is that it's now all but guaranteed that the war will be off the table during the presidential campaign. Once again — it happened in 2002, 2004 and 2006 — the Democrats have essentially decided to rely on the voters to give them credit for being anti-war, despite the fact that, for all the noise they've made to the contrary, in the end they've done nothing but vote for war and cough up every dime they've been asked to give, every step of the way." [5]

Campaign to Defend America, Inc., registered in 2006 with the State of Washington (Registration #23820) under "Charities and Trusts".[7]

Activities

"Iraq Summer" 2007

"Iraq Summer is a nationwide, 10-week long campaign with nearly 100 organizers in 15 states and 40 congressional districts to turn up the heat on members of Congress who have opposed setting a timeline to bring a safe and responsible end to the war in Iraq. The effort will culminate with a national 'Take a Stand' day on August 28th, when Members of Congress will have the opportunity to explain their stance on the war to their constituents in a town hall setting," according to an August 27, 2007, press release.[8][3]

September 7, 2007: "New hard-hitting ad hitting on the reality of what Susan Collins and her GOP colleagues have gotten us into -- an intractable, endless civil war. Versions of this ad ran in Kentucky against [Mitch] McConnell, in Minnesota against [Norman] Coleman and in New Mexico against [Pete] Domenici."[9][10]